1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to travel and to handling and transporting passenger baggage and, more specifically, to the development of a system that substantially changes baggage handling procedures in order to achieve increased efficiency, security and convenience for the traveling public.
2. Background Art
Since the beginning of commercial transportation services, carriers have transported limited quantities of baggage for passengers without charge, even though the cost to the carriers was substantial. The transportation of passenger baggage represents a major operating cost for carriers and ads substantially to the price of passenger tickets. Baggage transportation is particularly expensive for air carriers.
Air travel has become the principal means of passenger travel on long trips in recent years and the volume of air travel has increased considerably due to reduced fares. This has caused substantial congestion at airports that were never designed to accommodate the number of passengers now traveling. The problem has become more acute with recent terrorist attacks that have led to the implementation of increased security measures at airport terminals. Although technology has advanced substantially in the travel industry, the current baggage handling system, in which passengers and their baggage travel together, predates air and rail travel.
Furthermore, the present system in use at airports requires an enormous amount of expensive airport space, both at the area where the passenger deposits the baggage at the airport and at the area where the passenger retrieves the baggage after the completion of travel. Valuable space on aircraft could also be used more effectively in terms of revenue generation. If baggage were carried separately from passengers, the space currently occupied by baggage in commercial aircraft could be filled with freight, generating higher revenue. Further, if the baggage area on aircraft was converted to passenger cabin space, the space could be used to accommodate additional passengers. Moreover, the number of personnel necessary to administer and manage the current baggage handling system is significant and could be reduced, cutting costs, if the current system is radically changed.
Elimination of baggage on passenger flights would reduce airport congestion, airport space requirements and would facilitate the transfer of people at connecting hubs where passengers change aircraft. For shorter flights, baggage could be transported by truck or train in advance of the need for travel and would be available soon after passenger arrival. In addition to saving space on aircraft, elimination or reduction of baggage would reduce the weight to be carried by the aircraft. Consumption of costly fuel by aircraft is directly proportional to the weight being carried. Maintenance cost would also be reduced if the aircraft, as a result of elimination of baggage, carried less weight.
One of the main causes of delayed flights is the delay in baggage handling, particularly at airline hubs where passengers transfer from plane to plane to complete their travel. Substantial time at airline hubs is required for loading and unloading baggage in order to transfer baggage from one plane to another under the present system, where baggage travels on the same plane as the passengers. With the hub and spoke system now prevalent in the airline industry, mountains of baggage are moved between dozens of planes at airline hubs located in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and other cities, typically within a half hour. This process is repeated every hour of every day of the year. Baggage handling delays often lead to flight delays that propagate through hub and spoke airline systems causing passengers to miss their connecting flights. Aircraft that are late to depart from the hubs cause arriving planes to be late also. Passengers can typically be transferred to different planes at hubs much faster than their baggage because the passengers can get up and move on their own, whereas baggage has to be moved by an airline baggage handler. Passengers on planes that are late arriving at hubs may be able to get on their connecting flights, only to find that their baggage was not transferred due to a lack of time at the connecting point, causing unexpected long waiting times for their baggage at their destinations. Much of the baggage “lost” during flights is due to insufficient baggage handling time at the various airline hubs for transferring the baggage from one aircraft to another for the passengers' connecting flights.
The security of the baggage is another major issue. With the need for rapid transfer of large amounts of baggage, inadequate attention is paid to searching baggage for explosives, weapons, drugs or other contraband due to a lack of time. Until recently, the baggage on domestic airline flights was rarely x-rayed, or otherwise searched, due to the shear volume of baggage and the time and cost involved. The result of not searching can be a disaster such as occurred when Pan American flight 103 exploded over Lockerby, Scotland in 1988. Drug smugglers typically rely on the inability of customs to carefully search every piece of baggage due to time constraints. Elimination of baggage transport in the same aircraft as the passengers would allow the conduct of more extensive baggage searches by customs and security and would also eliminate the threat of passengers placing bombs in their baggage to collect flight life insurance. Separating the passengers from their baggage during travel would greatly decrease the long waiting time currently experienced by passengers passing through security check points as baggage could be searched to the extent desired without impeding passengers' travel.
There is a need for a less costly alternative to the present baggage handling system, as a means of reducing passenger waiting time, reducing departure and arrival area congestion and increasing security and cost control.